The Colorado State University Health Network’s Transgender Health Team is co-hosting voice workshops with the Pride Resource Center for transgender and nonbinary students Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.

Jan. 31 will focus on voice feminization, Feb. 1 on voice neutralization and Feb. 2 on voice masculinization. The workshops provide an option for transgender and nonbinary students to learn how to alter their voice to better match their identity. Students who wish to attend do not need health insurance that is compatible with the CSU Health Network.

“We talk about the different vocal features that lead to a listener to perceive a voice to be more feminine or masculine, or in that kind of gender-neutral range, and then we break it down into its parts. So (that means) learning about the difference between average pitch and pitch variation and the different prosody and intonation patterns that lead a voice to be perceived more masculine or more feminine.” -Annie Schubert, clinical director and speech-language pathologist at the Speech and Language Stimulation Center

Maggie Hendrickson is the director of the Pride Resource Center and is also on the Transgender Health Team.

“We really don’t want people to think that they have to be like on hormones, or so far along in their transition, or out, or any other precursors to coming to the workshop,” Hendrickson said. “It’s just another way for people to feel more comfortable in their bodies. A lot of people just think about transitioning as like, hormones and surgery, but there’s lots of other ways to socially or culturally or not medically transition. It’s really (for) people (who) are interested in voice training or experience any type of dysphoria that they think this could help with. That’s who the intended audience is for, and so this is just another tool for folks to kind of explore gender and the way that they’re received by others.”

Annie Schubert will be the facilitator for the workshops. She is a speech-language pathologist and the clinical director at the Speech and Language Stimulation Center and has worked with transgender and nonbinary patients for six years. Schubert said a lot of the voice services for transgender and nonbinary people are often not covered by insurance, so she facilitates these workshops to help better serve those communities.

“We talk about the different vocal features that lead to a listener to perceive a voice to be more feminine or masculine, or in that kind of gender-neutral range, and then we break it down into its parts,” Schubert said. “So (that means) learning about the difference between average pitch and pitch variation and the different prosody and intonation patterns that lead a voice to be perceived more masculine or more feminine.”

The workshops will provide advice for attendees to start their own at-home program to practice modifying their voice to be more in line with their desired voice.

“We also focus on vocal hygiene and some basic good healthy voice principles,” Schubert said. “(This is to) make sure that when doing any voice practice at home — and especially when you’re trying to attempt to modify your voice — that the participants can learn how to make sure we’re doing it in a safe way that doesn’t lead to strain or, like, vocal injury.”

More gender-affirming resources available on campus include the Pride Resource Center, which hosts the Lavender Cabinet that has several gender-affirming-care items, as well as the CSU Health Network’s Transgender Health Team, which helps students interested in exploring medically transitioning.

Reach Barnaby Atwood at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Barnaby_Atwood.